Are Spiders Attracted to Food? (Not to Human Food)

Spiders are not attracted to human or pet food, but they are attracted to the food they eat. This means they’ll follow insects, bugs, and other animals they eat wherever they go.

The majority of spiders are carnivores. They prefer to hunt food for themselves to eat. Some spiders do that by using their webs, while others hunt with ambushing.

They also don’t eat very often, meaning they can get enough food on their own. This means they won’t be attracted to human food.

However, spiders are attracted to insects and bugs, so they will follow them into your home. This will seem as though spiders are attracted to food, but in reality, they’re only following the insects that come inside to eat your food.

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Are Spiders Attracted to Human Food?

No, spiders are not attracted to human foods.

You might think that spiders will be attracted to human foods like some insects, but they’re not.

Spiders have their diet. They hunt for themselves, so they get enough food on their own. They don’t need to follow food sources such as other insects, who sometimes need to forage different types of food to survive.

Ants are a good example of that – they are attracted by almost anything sweet that we might drop around our homes.

Why Are Spiders Not Attracted to Human Food?

1. Spiders are Carnivores

One major reason why spiders are not attracted to human food is that they’re carnivores. It’s unusual for humans to leave meat lying around in the open.

That’s because spiders prefer a different type of meat. They will only eat insects and bugs that they can catch themselves.

If you were to leave a piece of meat near to the web of a spider, the spider would not be attracted to it, because the spider would not be able to eat it.

Related Article: How Do Spiders Have Babies?

2. Spiders Can’t Digest Human Food

Often, human food is just too big for spiders to consume and digest. They don’t have teeth, so they can’t chew down on human foods as some other animals can. While spiders have fangs that look like teeth, they play a very different purpose than teeth.

Spiders have a very interesting way of eating. Their digestive system is adapted to insects and smaller types of food. They will consume that food by first liquefying it with their venom, and then consuming it through their straw-like mouths.

This is one of the main reasons why spiders aren’t attracted to foods that humans eat.

Related Article: Do Spiders Eat Fruit?

3. Spiders Hunt for Themselves

Spiders aren’t attracted to human food because they are proficient hunters and simply don’t need to scavenge for human food scraps.

Some spiders hunt by using their webs to capture their prey. This type of predation is very common with many house spiders who create webs.

Spiders wait for their prey to get stuck inside their web, after which they will be triggered to attack the prey and inject it with venom, which will paralyze their prey.

Other spiders don’t use webs at all to hunt. Instead, they will have very good eyesight such as the wolf spider, or they will use superior agility to hunt, like the huntsman spider. Some spiders will also use their hairs to sense animals around them, like tarantulas do.

Spiders also don’t need that much food to survive. They get most of their food by hunting on their own, which is what they will do once or twice a week.

Related Article: What Do Grass Spiders Eat?

Are Spiders Attracted to Pet Food?

No, spiders aren’t attracted to pet food. However, pet food may attract other insects like ants and flies which will in turn attract spiders.

Spiders don’t like pet food because they can’t chew down on it and consume it. Pet food is available in different types: some animals eat pellets while others eat wet foods. 

If you happen to have a larger pet at home, then you will most likely feed them foods that spiders won’t be attracted to. However, some insects that spiders hunt might be attracted to the pet food, so spiders will follow them into your home. And this will make it seem as though spiders are attracted to pet food when they aren’t.

However, it will also depend on what type of pet you have. Some pets like to eat insects and live animals, so spiders might become attracted to that. So if that’s the case and you have a pet that likes to eat live animals such as insects, then you might also find some spiders around that area that will be interested in that food.

If that’s the case, you’ll need to properly guard the pet food such as live insects so as not to get spiders interested in that food.

What Are Spiders Attracted To?

Spiders are attracted to lower light conditions, availability of food such as insects, and potential mates.

Most of the time, spiders will be attracted to your home if you have a lot of insects and other animals they hunt, such as bugs, moths, and other animals. 

Most spiders are carnivores and they’re pretty good hunters. Their hunting techniques will vary a lot, but most spiders are attracted to your home if it has insects. That’s one of the reasons why you might see a lot of spiders in your home when you have the light on, which will attract insects.

Spiders are also attracted to low light conditions, peace, higher humidity levels, as well as human waste. These are the ideal conditions where spiders like to create webs or rest.

Final Thoughts

Spiders are not attracted to human or pet food, although they might be attracted to insects that are.

Because spiders follow insects into your home, it might seem as though they are attracted to the food you have in your home. However, that is not the case. They are opportunistic animals, which means they will eat almost any type of food they find, including insects that are attracted to foods in your home.